1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a drawing apparatus and a drawing method for a drawing apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, drawing apparatuses for drawing nail designs on nails are known. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (Translation of PCT Application) No. 2003-534083 describes a drawing apparatus for performing drawing of a nail design on a nail by using ink jet printing.
Additionally, the use of a plotter drawing apparatus on which a writing utensil (a pen) that applies a drawing is mounted has also been investigated as a drawing apparatus (a nail printing apparatus) for drawing a nail design such as a color, design, or the like on the surface of a nail.
Compared to an ink jet type drawing apparatus in which small droplets of ink are discharged, there are fewer restrictions related to the viscosity of usable inks, the particle size of the coloring material included in the ink, and the like in cases where drawing is performed by using a pen. With the latter, inks with excellent color development that include coloring material that has a large particle size, and high-viscosity inks such as light-curable inks can be used. With such drawing apparatuses, it is possible to draw various types of nail designs, the same as would be performed at a nail salon.
However, in the case of a drawing apparatus in which a pen is used, there are cases where ink cannot be satisfactorily applied to the surface of the nail depending on the condition of the pen tip, the condition of the surface of the object, namely the nail, and the like. In such a case, partially unpainted areas (undrawn areas) may occur on the surface of the nail.
In cases where drawing on a nail by ink jet printing, in order to apply high-definition drawing, a base layer must be applied to the surface of the nail before performing the drawing by ink jet printing. Moreover, there are drawing apparatuses provided with ink jet printing and plotter printing technology that are configured to apply base layer ink to the surface of the nail by using a pen.
Here, when applying the base layer ink to the nail by using a pen, there are cases where an unpainted area of the base layer ink occurs in part on the nail. In such cases, if the nail design is drawn by ink jet printing on the portions where the base layer has been applied and where the base layer has not been applied, there will be variations in the spreading, coloration, and the like of the ink. Consequently, if the drawing of the nail design is performed by ink jet printing in this condition, the finish quality of the nail design will decline.